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Aga Khan Museum a needed dose of civic ambition for Toronto: Hume

Above all, the Ismaili Centre and Aga Khan Museum are an act of faith, not just in religion but in Toronto. Of all the cities where these facilities, especially the museum, could have been located, the Ismailis chose this one.

Not only did they construct their monuments in a forlorn site at Eglinton and Wynford Dr., they hired two of the finest architects in the world — Fumihiko Maki of Japan and Charles Correa from India — to design them.

The entrance to the Aga Khan Museum, as seen in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 9. (Colin Perkel / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Not only did the Ismailis see the possibility of beauty where no one here had noticed, they put their money — $300 million and a priceless collection — where their mouth is.

On top of that, they placed the complex within a fully formed landscape of exquisite reflecting pools and mature trees.

The Ismaili ideals of pluralism and inclusion are built into the very architecture and layout of the place.

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It will take time for the city to come to grips with the magnitude of such a gift; Wynford Dr. isn’t exactly at the heart of things, but neither is it the middle of nowhere, though it looks like it.

“It’s a very formless part of the city,” Correa said at the Ismaili Centre, “like the bottom of the sea or something. I don’t know why Toronto abandoned the scale of neighbourhoods like Yorkville.”

On the other hand, the complex sits on a high point overlooking the Don Valley Parkway and is a landmark. Its dome-like structure, all glass, limestone and angularity, won’t be ignored. The Aga Khan, Correa explained, “was very keen that the buildings be seen.”

His Highness — HH in his absence — needn’t have worried. The architect rightly calls it a “come-on.”

But it’s also a come-in. Indeed, what makes this project so different, even revolutionary in this context, is the assumption that the quality of space matters. This means everything from light and dark to paving and planting. The attention to small details as well as big moves stands out in a sprawling suburban environment where most buildings are unadorned slabs in an ocean of parking lots.

The car is every bit as crucial to the centre — at least until the Eglinton Crosstown line opens — but it has been kept at a distance. Even so, the entrance from the underground garage to the museum includes a remarkable sound and slide show based on artifacts displayed in the rooms above.

In an area whose physical form is determined by exclusionary zoning and a belief that land is expendable and its uses only temporary, the arrival of something that aspires to permanence, let alone excellence, feels provocative. Suddenly, a vast swath of Toronto has been subtly revealed in all its banality.

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But change has to start somewhere and perhaps this will be it. The new complex doesn’t confront so much as it quietly raises the stakes. It brings cultural, social and economic value to a place where there was little or none. And all this without resorting to preciousness.

For Toronto, which some would turn into a backwoods family fiefdom, it’s a reminder that turning ever more inward is not an option. The rest of the world wants in, we want out.

In addition to everything else, the Ismailis have brought leadership to the city. You don’t have to be a believer to see the results. They have put Wynford Drive on the map and made it a global centre of Islamic art, which we could not have managed on our own.

“I’m a little jealous it’s not in my city,” said visiting Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. He should be.

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